Will 2014 go down as “The Year of Closure?” We don’t know, that’s for history to decide. What we do know is that so many venues, bars, restaurants and pieces of the landscape threw in the towel this year. Places that managed to become iconic, places on their way and places strangled in the crib before they could be.

So we decided to give the closed and torn down places an Oscars-style “In Memoriam” video. This isn’t a collection of every single place that closed in Brooklyn this year, but we think it’s a good cross-section showing 2014 was a toilet year. On the other hand, like our global tourism ambassador sings about New York, “Like any real love/it’s ever changing,” so what do we know. (more…)

Now that the likes of Zosia Mamet and Penn Badgley live there, Bushwick doesn’t have room for graffiti-filled cesspools of beer-and-shot combos and terrifying bathrooms. Specifically, we’re talking about Wreck Room, a stop on the “Hey, I’ve puked in front of here” tour that you soon won’t be able to bring friends to, because according to Bushwick Daily, the dive is closing its doors on Saturday. (more…)

A sports bar conjures up images of chads chowing down wings and sexually harassing waitresses who laugh it off for a decent tip. Beer bars have all the brews in our solar system, and bartenders who can write you a dissertation on each one. Gay bars have jukeboxes containing only Robyn. What is a dive bar though?

It definitely shouldn’t be defined by the terrible old cliche of “a place where hipsters rub elbows with [INSERT BLUE COLLAR TROPE]” because that veers dangerously close to giving a cop or a sanitation guy mystical features. It shouldn’t be a place that is cheap above all else, because a hellhole with cheap beer is still a hellhole.

A dive bar is a place that should have cheap beer, yes, but also decent service and some sense of being permanently etched into the landscape. If it’s baffling or intimidating to newcomers, all the better. If you walk into a bar, sit down with your beer and are suddenly being lectured on the terrible decision the Rangers made to trade for goddamn Phil Esposito 40 years ago, you know you’re in the right place. Or at least I know I am. A dive bar, more than any other kind of bar, is a place that acts as a bulwark against a world that is more often completely shitty than anything else.

Some of the bars on this list have existed as bars since seemingly the beginning of time, others are new but well on their way to permanence. Several reject the slummy dive bar aesthetic for something a little snazzier. Due to the sometimes anonymous nature of the dive, this list is far from all encompassing. Still, all these spots share an edge and patrons who don’t give a fuck what you think when you walk in the door. And Brooklyn is all the better for them. — Dave Colon (more…)

You’ve been there before: unable to work at home, you pop in to the local coffee shop to soak up the wifi and get yourself focused with a cup of joe. The next thing you know, you’re on your third cup, you’ve got the shakes and somehow still aren’t done working. You’ve got to take the edge off somehow, but still don’t want to go home. What’s a girl to do? Fortunately for you, Brooklyn is home to bars that offer wifi AND open early enough to get you back in balance. Happy hour, here you come! (more…)